Improvement in clasp-hooks for advertising display-boards



.- N. U. WILCOX.

Clasp-Honk for Advertising Display Boards, Y18m.

`N0.i61,919 Y PaieniedA`prii13,1a 75.

i i "minimali i I i IWI v `=`j imi immuni FIG. 1. d FIG. 2.

M@ I Af/ffm y f NELSON O. WlLOOX, OF BENNINGTON, VERMONT.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLASP-HOOKS FOR ADVERTISING DISPLAY-BOARDS, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 16 1,919, dated April 13, 1875 application filed January 2, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NELSON O. WrLcox, of Bennington, in the county of Bennington and State of Vermont, have invented a Clasp-Hook and Advertising Display-Board, of which the following is a speciiication:

This invention consists of a claspfhook, of the character hereinafter described, adapted to be attached. to or mounted upon an ornamental display-card stretcher or board suitably framed, and is designed for holding and exhibiting a variety of goods, such as boot and corset laces, watch-guards, skeins of thread, silk, 85e., and, in fact, all analogous articles usually sold in singles, but which are put up by the manufacturer indozens or by the gross, and which are liable, like boot-laces, to be drawn into a snarl, or to become entangled in detaching a single one from the group by drawing it out.

Figure l of the drawing shows a front view of my invention, and Fig. 2 exhibits a vertical cross-section of the same.

The desiderata sought for in this invention are to provide retail dealers of the articles previously alluded to, and others having occasion. to frequently recur to the bunch, bundle, or package, for a single one of any of them, with one or more clasp-hooks to be attached to a show-card or stretcher, all substantially framed, or which can be detached from the display-board and used separately by attaching the same to the building, bench, or counter, as may be desirable or convenient.

These hooks or clasps work in a socket-plate or stand, are actuated and controlled by a spring, and are so constructed that the goods are grasped between the interior of the curve of the hook and the face of the stand-plate, so that, as the pieces are severally drawn or pulled out, the hook, by the action of the spring, is forced back and closes upon the remaining pieces, holding them rmly enough that a single one may be withdrawn without disturbing, disarranging, or entangling those remaining.

As many of these clasp-hooks, and of the construction best adapted to the various articles desired to be thus displayed and arranged, may be attached either to a frame, board, or other suitable foundation, which foundation may be faced with a lithographie or other ornamental design, with a ground-work of such color as by contrast exhibits to the best advantage the goods so arranged thereon.

The mechanical construction and arrangement of my invention are clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The device for holding the goods consists of the clasp-hook A and the socket-plate B 5 the lower end of the hook being inserted in a slot or recess, d, of the plate B, and there pivoted by means ofthe pin o.

There are four peculiarities about this hook, viz It works upon a pivot; it is actuated by a spring it has at its upper end a lip, outwardly evertiug'to facilitate the introduction of the goods to be exhibited or hung up; and, lastly, it is arranged to work in or through slots in the socket-plate to which it is pivoted.

rI he socket-plate B is provided with ears, by which it is attached to afoundation by screws. The slotted or central portion of this plate projects forward from the base of the plate, and. the upper part of this projecting portion is beveled or sloped backward to a level with the surface of the main plate, and has the slot b, through which the lip m plays. The arrangement of the parts is such that when the hook is drawn forward so tha-t the point m of the hook has receded sufficiently far from the plate the articles may be drawn down between the lip m and the beveled face p, into that part of the hoek n designed to retain them. When the hold upon the articles is released, the constantly-acting spring t upon the stem e exerts its force, thereby causing the hook to press baekwardly upon the goods and rmly close them in between the curve a of the hook and the portion fr of the plate B, and continues to exert this force until the last piece has been withdrawn from the hook. The stem cis constructed upon the are of a circle of which the pin cis the center, and is provided with a pin, s, or a nut, as may be most convenient, which pin or nut receives the thrust of the coil-sprin g working against the back or inside of the socket-plate as its fulcrum.

The socket-plate, with its attachments, is securely fastened to the stretcher-frame or other foundation, upon which it may be put by screws or otherwise. I have shown, as a very simple mode of construction, an ordinary i stretched my design, which forms the background, against which I show the articles or goods, this ornamental design to be in keeping with the line of the goods exhibited.

I have constructed these hooks so as to allow the stem e which carries the spring v5 to slide in a way provided therefor in the socketplate B, and have thus been enabled to dispense with the pivot c, shown in the drawings but I regard the vertical slot a, through which the stem e plays, as an equivalent for a way or guide through which a straight stern could be made to slide or work; in which case the stem would have to be made of a shape to t and Anot turn in the Way, so that when the hook is drawn forward to its fullest extent it would preserve its proper position.

I claim as my invention- The hook A, having the lip m, curved space n, stem e, and spring z', pivoted as shown, in combination with the slotted socket-plate B, for the uses set forth, and operating as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereto subscribed my name this 29th day of December,

will N. O. WILGOX. Witnesses:

CHARLES G. COLE, CHARLES G. PHILLIPS. 

